The indians met by the Englishmen of Sir Walter
Raleigh's expeditions belonged to the great linguistic stock known as Algonquian.
Their tribes were scattered throughout a vast triangular-shaped territory
extending from the North Carolina sandbanks to the St. Lawrence River [Canada],
and from the Atlantic Ocean to the Rocky Mountains. The coastal tribes
occupied the southern point of the triangle. They were mainly sedentary
and agricultural. "The eastern Algonquian probably equaled the Iroquois
in bravery, intelligence, and physical powers, but lacked their constancy,
solidity of character, and capability of organization, and do not appear
to have appreciated the power and influence they might have wielded by
combination…There seems, indeed, to have been some element in their character
which rendered them incapable of combining in large bodies, even against
a common enemy" 1

For a half century or more after Raleigh's
expeditions the Indians of the North Carolina seaboard were left to themselves.
No further efforts were made to renew the settlement at Roanoke, and the
colony at Jamestown was too far distant to involve relationships with the
Carolina natives. About 1650, however, Virginians began to push south into
the Albemarle region.

A VIRGINIA EXPEDITION

In September, 1654, a young fur trader of Virginia,
with three companions, visited Roanoke Island, arriving by boat. The Indian
chief of that region received them cordially and showed them the ruins
of the fort erected by Sir Walter Raleigh's colonists. The Indians of Roanoke
and others of neighboring tribes entered into a treaty of peace with the
English.

As proof of their good intentions, a delegation
of the Indians visited Francis Yardley at his Virginia home. The leader
of the band, upon seeing and hearing the children of the settlement read
and write, asked that his son might be taught "to speak out of the
book, and to make a writing." He was invited to bring the boy to school,
and at his departure he expressed himself as being desirous to serve the
God the Englishmen served and to have his child brought up as a Christian.
He promised to return with him in "four moons". The chief, arriving
in Yardley's absence, was mistreated by the settlers, but was saved from
personal injury through the kindness of his host's wife. Upon his return
Yardley arranged with the chief to purchase lands along three great rivers
in Carolina territory and sent men to select the tracts, to build a comfortable
house for the chief, and to pay him two hundred pounds English money. It
was agreed that the lands thus acquired should become a possession of England,
and the chief solemnly carried out the transaction with the neighboring
Indians by delivering to them "a turf of earth with an arrow shot
into it." The Indians at once vacated these lands.

While Yardley's men were building the new house,
the chief invited some of them to visit the Tuscarora. Two of the men went
along with a party of the Indians, and after two days' travel they came
to the hunting quarters of a Tuscarora chief, who, with 250 men, received
them kindly. He invited the visitors to journey to his town, where he told
them there resided a rich Spaniard who had been with the Tuscarora for
seven years. Yardley's men were also invited to go farther inland where,
it was said, copper was to be found in great abundance. The white men saw
much copper among the Tuscarora, including plates which they claimed were
a foot square. 2
They also stated that one of the Indians had two gold beads in his ears,
as big as "rounceval peas" 3
The travelers were desirous of further exploration, but as their interpreter
became ill, and as there was strife between the Tuscarora and a great nation
called Cacores, the journey was considered too hazardous.

The Cacores were described as "a very
little people in stature, not exceeding youths of thirteen or fourteen
years, but extremely valiant and fierce in fight, and above belief swift
in retirement and flight, whereby they resist the puissance of this potent,
rich, and numerous people". This tribe of valiant little men may have
been the Shoccoree, or Shakori, living westward, probably in the region
of Haw River. Saxapahaw is another rendering of their name. It is interesting
to note that in lower Randolph County on Cedar Creek, within Shoccoree
territory, several graves were disturbed by waters of a freshet in 1929,
revealing skeletal remains of Indians of small stature whose teeth indicated
that they were past middle age.

The travelers learned also that "there
is another great nation by these called Haynokes, who valiantly resist
the Spaniard's northern attempts." These are thought to have been
the Eno Indians, neighbors of the Shoccoree. Further reference will be
made later to these two tribes. It is probable that they were formerly
located farther south on the line of march of the Spanish explorers.

A party of forty-five Indians accompanied their
friendly white companions to Virginia. The chief brought along his wife
and son, whom he wanted baptized. The only present they delivered was the
"turf of earth with an arrow shot into it." The boy was accordingly
baptized, and as Yardley devoutly stated, was "left with me to be
bred up a Christian, which God grant him grace to become!"

GEORGE FOX PREACHES TO
THE INDIANS

George Fox visited Carolina in 1672. The Governor
and his wife received the minister charitably, but a doctor of the province
began a dispute. In the words of Fox:

And truly his opposing us was of good service,
giving occasion to the opening of many things to the people concerning
the Light and Spirit of God, which he denied to be in every one; and affirmed
it was not in the Indians. Whereupon I called an Indian to us, and asked
him, "Whether or no, when he did lie, or do any wrong to any one,
there was not something in him that did so reprove him for it? " He
said "There was such a thing in him that did so reprove him; and he
was ashamed when he had done wrong, or spoken wrong." So we shamed
the doctor before the governor and people....

I went from this place among the Indians,
and spoke to them by an interpreter, shewing them, "That God made
all things in six days, and made but one woman and one man; and that God
did drown the old world because of their wickedness. Afterwards I spoke
to them concerning Christ, shewing them, that he died for all men, for
their sins, as well as for others; and had enlightened them as well as
others; and that if they did that which was evil he would burn them; but
if they did well they should not be burned. There was among them their
young king and others of their chief men, who seemed to receive kindly
what I said to them....

[Another service] There was at this meeting
an Indian captain, who was very loving; and acknowledged it to be truth
that was spoken. There was also one of the Indian priests, whom they called
Pauwaw [origin of "pow-wow"?], who sat soberly among the people.

SUBJECTION

The early settlers in the Albemarle region
were well received, but the first friendly dealings were followed by occasional
hostility which retarded the growth of the settlement. The Indians could
not offer resistance sufficient to drive back the newcomers, and the settlers
prevailed. Soon the coastal tribes became subject to their white neighbors.
Decline of these tribes was rapid, largely because of the evil effects
incurred by contact with the white man's civilization. Their annals are
short and simple.

HATTERAS INDIANS

These Indians occupied the sandbanks in the
neighborhood of Cape Lookout. They have been long considered no other than
Manteo's people, the friendly Croatoan, and there is good evidence that
they afforded a refuge for the Lost Colony and that survivors of the colony
were incorporated into their tribe. Smith and Strachey of Virginia heard
about 1607 that the colonists of 1587 were still alive. John Lawson's history,
published in 1709, says of the Hatteras Indians:

These tell us that several of their ancestors
were white People, and could talk in a Book, as we do; the truth of which
is confirmed by grey Eyes being found frequently amongst these Indians,
and no others. They themselves extremely for their Affinity with the English,
and are ready to do them all friendly offices.

When this was written, shortly after 1700 the
Hatteras had only one town, Sand Banks, and numbered but sixteen fighting
men, indicating a population of about eighty.

True to their affinity, they were allied with
the English during the Tuscarora War. The journal of the provincial council
of May 29, 1714, carried the report that the Hatteras Indians had lately
escaped from the enemy Indians and were at Colonel Boyd's house, Colonel
Boyd was ordered to supply the Indians with corn until they could return
to their own habitation. Later the Indians appealed for "Some Small
reliefe from ye County for their services being reduced to great poverty."
They were allowed sixteen bushels of corn for their needs to be supplied
out of the public store.

In 1731 Governor Burrington listed them among
the six nations at that time in the province, none of which, except the
Tuscarora, contained more than twenty families.

In May, 1761, the Rev. Alexander Stewart, a
missionary of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, wrote of his
visit to Hyde County, including this mention:

I likewise with pleasure inform the Society,
that the few remains of the Altamuskeet [Mattamuskeet], Hatteras &
Roanoke Indians (whom I likewise mentioned in a former letter) appeared
mostly at the chapel & seemed fond of hearing the Word of the true
God & of being admitted into the church of our Lord Jesus Christ. 2
men and 3 women & 2 children were baptized by me. I could have wished
the adults were better instructed, but their sureties & a northern
Indian among them, who had been bred as a christian, promised to take that
care.

Two years later the same clergyman made another
voyage to Hyde County and reported:

The remains of the Attamuskeet, Roanoke
and Hatteras Indians, live mostly along the coast, mixed with the white
inhabitants, many of these attended at the Places of Public Worship, while
I was there & behaved with decency seemed desirous of instruction &
offered themselves & their children to me for baptism. & after
examining some of the adults I accordingly baptized, 6 adult Indians, 6
Boys, 4 Girls & 5 Infants & for their further instruction (at the
expence of a society called Dr. Bray's associates, who have done me the
honor of making me Superintendent of their schools in this Province, have
fixed a school mistress among them, to teach 4 Indian & 2 negro boys
& 4 Indian girls to read & to work & have supplied them with
Books for that purpose & hope that God will open the eyes of the whites
everywhere that they may no longer keep the ignorant in distress but assist
the charitable design of this Pious Society & do their best endeavours
to increase the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The possibility that members of the tribe migrated
to Robeson County, where several thousand so-called Croatan Indians now
reside, seems very remote.

CHOWAN

The Chowan Indians, whose name signifies "Southerners,"
were still a strong tribe when the settlers began to move into the Albemarle
region about 1650. Their name was well known, as the following references
from early records of Virginia indicate.

On August 27, 1650, a Virginia exploring party
set out from Fort Henry to reach the Tuscarora settlements. The company
included Edward Bland, Abraham Wood, Sackford Brewster, Elias Pennant,
two white servants, and an Appromattox Indian guide. On the way they secured
a Nottoway Indian guide named Oyeocker. Some distance west of Meherrin
River they came to an Indian trail. Their narrative states:

At this path our Appamattuck Guide made a stop,
and cleared the Westerly end of the path with his foote, being demanded
the meaning of it, he shewed an unwillingness to relate it, sighing very
much. Whereupon we made a stop untill Oyeocker out Other Guide came up,
and then our Appamattuck journied on; but Oyeocker at his coming up cleared
the other end of the path, and prepared himselfe in a most serious manner
to require our attentions, and told us that many years since their late
great Emperour Appachancano came thither to make War upon the Tuscarood,
in revenge of three of his men killed, and one wounded, and brought word
of the other three men murdered by the Hocomawananck Indians for lucre
of the Roanoke they brought with them to trade for Otter skins. There accompanied
Appachancano severall petty Kings that were under him, amongst which there
was one King of a Towne called powhatan, which had long time harboured
a grudge against the King of Chawan, about a young woman that the King
of Chawan had detayned of the King of Powhatan: Now it happened that the
King of Chawan was invited by the King of Powhatan to this place under
pretence to present him with a guift of some great vallew, and they met
accordingly, and the King of Powhatan went to salute and embrace the King
of Chawan, and stroaking of him after their usual manner, he whipt a bowstring
about the King of Chawans neck, strangled him; and how that in memoriall
of this, the path is continued unto this day, and the friends of the Powhatans
when they passe that way , cleanse the Westerly end of the path, and the
friends of the Chawan the other. And some two miles from the path we come
unto an Indian Grave upon the east side of the path: Upon which Grave there
lay a great heape of stickscovered with greene boughs, we demanded the
reason for it, Oyeocker told us, that there lay a great man of Chawan that
dyed in the same quarrell, and in honor of his memory they continue greene
boughs over his Grave to this day, and ever when they goe forth to Warre
they relate this, and other valorous, loyall Acts, to their young men,
to animate them to doe the like whan occasion requires.

In 1663 the Chowan entered into a treaty with
the English and "submitted themselves to the Crown of England under
the Dominion of the Lord Proprietors." This treaty was faithfully
observed for a decade, but in 1675 the Susquehanna War broke out in Virginia.
Through incitement of the Indians of Virginia the Chowan violated their
treaty. A year of waefare followed with serious loss to the settlers. Later
the Chowan were forced to surrender all of their land on the south side
of Meherrin River and were assigned a reservation on Bennett’s Creek. Here
they struggled along for a hundred years. Many petitons were made to the
council for a survey, but nearly fifty years passed before the request
was granted. Their lands gradually dwindled from twelve square miles, as
first assigned, to six square miles about 1707. At this time they had only
one town with about fifteen fighting men.

They were allied with the colonists during
the Tuscarora War. Chief John Hoyter petitioned the council in 1714 for
a survey of the six-mile reservation, stating that the Indians had been
fighting on Eight Expeditions agt the Indyan Enemy of this province and
during the time they were in ye Countys Service they Suffered Considerable
loss in their plantatios & Stocks loosing Seaventy five head of hogs
a Mare & Colt their Corne destroyed by wch ye wearing out of their
clothes they are reduced to great poverty, and asked that some allowance
be made for their services and losses.

In 1712 Missionary Giles Rainsford of the English
Church wrote:

I had conference with one Thomas Hoyle King
of the Chowan Indians who seem very inclinable to embrace Christianity
and proposes to send his son to school . . . I readily offered him my service
to instruct him myself . . . where I lodge being but three miles distant
from his Town. But he modestly declined it for the present till a general
peace was concluded between the Indians and the Christians. I found he
had some notions of Noahs flood which he came to the knowledge of and exprest
himselfe after this manner – My father told me I tell my Son.

Three years Rainsford reported: "I have
been five months together in Chowan Indian Town & make myself almost
a Master of their language." In this same letter he offered to serve
as missionary among them.

In 1718 and 1720 petitions were filed by Chief
Hoyter complaining that the settlers were continually intruding upon the
lands of the Indians and that the limits of the territory had never been
determined. In the former petition he also asked for payment due one of
his tribesmen by a settler for an Indian slave of the Core Sound region.
In 1723 a reservation of 53,000 acres was laid out for the Tuscarora and
the Chowan.

By the year 1731 the tribe had dwindled to
less than twenty families. Two years later the council gave them permission
to be incorporated with the Tuscarora. In 1752 Bishop Spangenberg wrote
from Edenton, "The Chowan Indians are reduced to a few families, and
their land has been taken away from them." A report of Governor Dobbs
in 1755 stated that the tribe consisted of two men and five women and childres
who were "ill used by their neighbors."

Dr. Richard Dillard has described a shell mound
in the former Chowan region:

One of the largest and most remarkable Indian
mounds in Eastern North Carolina is located at Bandon on the Chowan, evidently
the site of the ancient town of Chowanokes which Grenville’s party visited
in 1585, and was called Mavaton. The map of James Winble, made in 1729,
also locates it about this point. The mound extends along the river bank
five or six hundred yards, is sixty yards wide and five feet deep, covered
with about one foot of sand and soil. It is composed almost exclusively
of mussel shells taken from the river, pieces of pottery, ashes, arrowheads
and human bones . . . Potery and arrowheads are found in many places throughout
this county, especially on hillsides, near streams, etc.

WEAPOMEIOK

North of Albemarle Sound were the Weapomeiok,
whose chief town was located within the present Pasquotank County. Their
towns mentioned by the explorers were Weapomeiok, Pasquenoke or Women's
Town, Chepanoc, Mascoming, and Metachkwem, all ruled by Okisco. Shortly
after 1700 the Indians of this region were listed as Yeopim with six people,
Pasquotank with one town on Pasquotank River and ten fighting men, Poteskeet
with one town on North River and thirty fighting men, and Perquiman, a
total of about two hundred inhabitants. (Most of the estimates of tribes
in decline are listed in John Lawson's History of North Carolina.)

The first deed on record in North Carolina,
which bears the date 1662, reads:

Know all men by these presents that I, Kilcacenen,
King of Yeopim have for a valeiable consideration of satisfaction received
with the consent of my people sold, and made over to George Durant a Parcell
of land lying and being on Roneoke Sound and on a river called by the name
Perquimans....

The document is signed with the mark of Kilcocanen
or Kistotanen, the chief.

MACHAPUNGA, BAY RIVER,
PAMLICO, AND CORANINE

The Machapunga, or Mattamuskeet, dwelt in Hyde
County. Their name signifies "bad dust," or "much dust,"
probably an allusion to the sandy region they inhabited In the neighborhood
of Lake Mattamuskeet. Ralph Lane’s party visited their settlements. In
1701 they had one town and thirty fighting men. They joined the Tuscarora
against the colonists. Governor Pollock reported in 1713 that the Mattamuskeet
and Coranine:

of late have done us great mischief, having
killed and taken our people since my last to you, about 45 at Croatan Roanoke
Island, and Alligator River, these being about 50 or 60 men of them got
together between Matchepungo River and Roanoke Island which is about 100
miles in length and of considerable breadth, all in a manner lakes, quagmires,
and cane swamps, and is, I believe, one of the greatest deserts in the
world, where it is almost impossible for white men to follow them. They
have got likewise boats and canoes, being expert watermen, wherein they
can transport themselves where they please.

In 1761 they were listed as having seven or
eight fighting men.

Near by were the Bear River, or Bay River,
Indians, listed in 1701 as having one town called Raudaugua-quank with
fifty fighting men, and the Pampticough (Pamlico) with one town called
Island and fifteen fighting men. These tribes were likewise allies of the
Tuscarora.

The Coranine, or Coree, lived in the region
of Core Sound, which preserves their name. Governor Archdale described
them as a bloody and barbarous people. Lawson listed them in 1701 as Connamox
with two towns, Coranine and Raruta, having twenty-five fighting men. They
had a prominent part in the Tuscarora War, fighting against the colonists.
In 1715, with other enemy Indians, they were allowed to settle at Mattamuskeet
and the council requested the governor "to Commission & Impower
Some person and to remit accounts thereof," for which service he was
to be allowed 2 shillings 6 pence per day.

John Lawson gave the following story of early
warfare between these Indians and the Machapunga:

The Machapungas were invited to a Feast
by the Coranines; (which two Nations had been a long time at War together,
but bad lately concluded a Peace). Thereupon, the Machapunga Indians took
advantage of coming to the Coranine's Feast, which was to avoid all suspicion,
and their King, who, of a Savage, is a great Politician and very stout,
ordered all the Men to carry their Tomahauks along with them, hidden under
their Match Coats. which they did, and being acquainted when to fall on,
by the Word given, they all (upon this design) set forward for the Feast,
and came to the Coranine town, where they had gotten Victuals, Fruit and
such things as make an Indian Entertainment, all ready to make these new
Friends welcome, which they did, and after Dinner, towards Evening, (as
it is customary amongst them) they went to dancing, altogether; so when
the Machapunga King saw the best opportunity to offer, he gave the Word
and their Men pulled their Tomahauks from under the Match Coats and killed
several and took the rest Prisoners, except some few that were not present
and four or five that escaped. The Prisoners they sold as Slaves to the
English. At the time this was done, those Indians had nothing but bows
and Arrows, neither side having Guns.

On Harkers Island, in Core Sound, there is
a shell mound that marks the feasting place of Indians in former days.
This was in Coranine territory, and may have been the scene of the fateful
feast described by Lawson. The mound is roughly circular in outline, one
hundred yards or more in diameter. Its height rises to ten feet or more
near the center. Considerable excavation has been made. Five miles of road
on the island have been paved with shells from the mound and many loads
have been transported in barges to Hyde County for fertilizer. Clam and
oyster shells predominate, with frequent occurrence of conch shells. The
greater portion of the shells have been opened, and such shells as the
conch have been broken, apparently for extraction of food. In addition
to shells there are bones of fish, carapaces of turtles, etc. The layers
are well defined, often marked by fire pits showing charcoal and ashes.
On these levels are found broken pieces of clay pots, pebbles, and animal
bones. Intermingled with the shells have been found also stone tools, arrowheads,
and other artifacts of the Indians. Several skeletons of Indians have been
found in the mound. With one was a necklace of animal teeth strung together.
There are other mounds of shells in the vicinity, but the Harkers Island
mound is probably the largest on the Carolina coast. 4

Footnotes:

1. Hodge, Handbook
of American Indians North of Mexico, Part I. See Algonquian. For a careful
study of the Algonquian-speaking tribes of North Carolina, see Mook, "Algonkian
Ethnohistory of the Carolina Sound," loc. cit.

2. Use of copper
among the natives has been noted in all areas of North Carolina. (See below,
Chapter XX.)

3. No objects
of gold used by Indians have been found in this state, except for this
reference.

4. This mound
was visited by the author in 1931. One of the islanders produced a skull
taken from the mound.